SILK MANUAL, AND 



Income of the Third Year. — Some farmers de- 

 cline cultivating the mulberry on account of tlie 

 time that must necessarily elapse between sowing 

 the seed and gathering the toliage in sufficient 

 quantities to make a profitable crop of silk. That 

 investments which yield a speedy return of profit 

 are to be preferred to those which are longer 

 unproductive is apparent to all ; but a shrewd 

 financier always takes into consideration the per- 

 centage his capital will give him, as well as the 

 time it is employed. Hence if he is balancing 

 between an investment which will give him six 

 per cent, annually, commencing at the end of the 

 first year and one that will give him thirty per 

 cent, at the end of three years, and afterwards in 

 a double, or quadruple proportion, he will ulti- 

 mately decide in favor of the latter, and for the 

 best of all reasons — it is the most advantageous. 



That farmers cannot realize as speedy profit 

 from mulberry trees as from crojjs that arrive at 

 maturity the first year, is manifest ; but whether 

 taking a series of years together, they cannot 

 ensure a much larger per centage on their capital 

 investefl, is a question for experience to decide. 

 We are aware the old method of cultivating the 

 tree, and receiving no profit from it for ten or 

 fifteen years, was a disooinviging business ; but 

 according to the plan of modern culturists, it 

 requires no extraordinary degree of patience to 

 await the growth of the tree. It is believed by 

 the most judicious cultivators of the mulberry, 

 that silk can be made on the third year's growth 

 of the tree in sufficient quantities to pay the ex- 

 pense of cultivation and a fair per centage en the 

 capital invested. 



For the purpose of settling the question, we 

 would recommend to gentlemen who are engaging 

 in the culture of silk the trial of the following 

 experiment ; which so far as we can discover, 

 promises a favorable result. — Sow the present 

 season 5 lbs. of white mulberry seed. This, 

 according to the quantity ordinar-ily allotted, will 

 plant one acre in seed beds. Cultivate the plants 

 till they are two years old, and then trans])lant 

 them to the .nursery. Planted at from three to 

 four inches apart in rows two feet spaces, they 

 will cover from four and a half to five acres. 

 The third year prime the trees, and with the 

 branches cut ofl^, feed a family of worms, and 

 make a cro[) of silk. That the trees can be suc- 

 cessfully cultivated in this manner, no one will 

 doubt ; but the great inquiry will be, what number 

 of worms can be sustained, and what quantity of 

 silk will they make ? In answering these ques- 

 tions we nuist rely partly upon experiments and 

 partly upon estimates. 



That the prunings and other foliage of a white 

 mulberry tree, on its third year's growth, will 

 furnish food sufficient for one worm, was proved 



by a gentleman of our acquaintance the past 

 season. Taking this fact as the starting point, let 

 us next ascertain what number of trees may be 

 expected from five pounds of seed, and what 

 quantity of silk will the same number of worms 

 make. There are in a pound about 280,000 seeds; 

 but as it cannot be determined what proportion of 

 them will germinate, we always consider 100,000 

 trees a fair estimate. This will give 500,000 trees 

 from 5 lbs. seed, and consequently feed as many 

 worms. A po:md of silk is estimated to require 

 the labor of from 2500 to 3000 worms ^ but we 

 will allow 4000, which being made the divisor of 

 500,000, will give us a quotient of 125, the num- 

 ber of pounds of silk produceil. If we call the 

 silk $4 a pound, which is below its value if well 

 reeled, it will give a gross income of $500, the 

 third year. 



Now deduct one half for labor, and as mncb 

 more as you please for failures and disaj)point- 

 ments incident to a new project, and see if a 

 farmer can devote a portion of his lands, and 

 invest a portion of his surplus money to better 

 advantage. The experiment may be tried on a 

 smaller scale, if found to be more desirable. — 

 Genesee Farmer. 



Price of making Cocoons. — In our January 

 number we had an article on the " price of mak- 

 ing cocoons," in which we stated that a silk- 

 grower of Mansfield was ready to contract for 

 " making" cocoons at $1 a bushel. We supposed 

 no jierson could mistake our meaning,- but it 

 seems a correspondent of the New England Far- 

 mer understood us to say the offer was to " furnish" 

 them at that price, for in this manner he misquotes 

 our language. Had he read the article, as origin- 

 ally published, he could but have seen that wc 

 alluded to the price of making on contiact, hav- 

 ing the foliage, &c. furnished, and not to furnishing 

 the manufacturer with thetn from the product of 

 his- own trees. The correspondent affects to 

 doubt the "correctness of the proposition," and' 

 "to test" it ''Offers $2 for 3000 bushels, [82 a 

 bushel we presume] to be delivered at the Farmer 

 office any time in the present year." ft is prob- 

 ably known to the writer that cocoons have been 

 selling through the season at $3 a lnjshel, and 

 that it is exj)ected they will advance 25 or 30 per 

 cent, the coming season. Under these circum- 

 stances, lie can hardly expect that any si k-gtrnver 

 will furnish him at 50 per cent, discount ; but if 

 he has the foliage for the 3000 bushels of cocoons, 

 the silk-grower of Mansfield will gather it and 

 make the cocoons at the price stated. — Silk Cul- 

 turist. 



To raise potatoes in Ireland, English seed is 

 planted ; in England, Irish seed. — American Mag- 

 azine. 



